Please help! How do we wean from STTN in a swing

[Monarchgrrl]

We used to co-sleep but at 1 mo DD and I both needed a break. We were constantly sweating and overheated sleeping together and we'd both wake up constantly, so I put her in a little travel swing right next to the bed. Instant STTN status! So we kept doing it. It was heaven! Now she's in a bigger tall swing in her room and still STTN. Here's the really bad part: we don't belt her in. :( She sleeps swaddled and on her side. She will not sleep on her back at all, even while being held for naps and we can't use the belt system with her on her side (or swaddled). She's now 4 months and I know our nights of using this are very numbered. Soon she'll be able to sit up and lean forward and then can fall out.

Every time we try to lay her on a non-moving surface, like her pack n' play, she will immediately wake up, even from a dead-to-the-world sleep. She needs to be moving. We even bought a self-bouncing baby hammock, but it doesn't seem to be working right and she wakes so much more. She doesn't sleep in the swing for naps. For naps she has to be laying on the boppy pillow on our lap, on her side and swaddled. She will sleep for two hours at a time like that, so I guess she can sleep mostly non-moving but it has to be on one of us, which we don't mind during the day.

So how do we transition her from her swing at night? I want to start before she can sit up. Any ideas or help?

[MPsSweetie]

oh no, i didnt want to see this post.  Abbott sleeps in his swing, only in his swing... unless dh is bouncing him on the excersize ball.  i need to sleep, but worry about when he gets bigger.

i also dont belt him in.

[sere234]

Hehehehe, Caden is 6 months and still naps and starts the night in his swing unbuckled. He is also swaddled since his arms tend to wake him up so seems like we're in the same boat.

Right now Caden can sit and is starting to scoot/crawl so he's an active boy. He is very strong and sturdy but we've never had a problem with him escaping from his swing. We put him in it asleep and when he wakes, he'll sit and talk and swing for a while before I go pick him up. He's still safe so no worries yet! Of course he's in a pretty tight arm swaddle and doesn't often escape....

My plan is to let him sleep swinging as long as I can while attempting occasionally to lay him in his crib for naps or to start his night. I can get him to stay sleeping in his crib maybe every couple days as long as I put him on his tummy, loosely wrapped. I don't feel comfortable laying him on his tummy swaddled and alone so we're working on unswaddling as well!!

IMO I suggest not worrying about the swing for now. Maybe start on the swaddling first? Then try tummy sleeping while still letting her sleep in the swing until she accepts it...

HTH!!

[Monarchgrrl]

Thanks, Sarah! I feel so much better knowing I'm not the only one that doesn't buckle! I was feeling like a bad mom. So you think I still have a few more months of swinging unbuckled for her? I just worry that THIS is the night that she'll fall out. Like when they can't roll over until you leave them on the couch alone and THAT'S when they learn how. LOL!

[SeattleRain]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl 

We used to co-sleep but at 1 mo DD and I both needed a break. We were constantly sweating and overheated sleeping together and we'd both wake up constantly, so I put her in a little travel swing right next to the bed. Instant STTN status! So we kept doing it. It was heaven! Now she's in a bigger tall swing in her room and still STTN. Here's the really bad part: we don't belt her in. :( She sleeps swaddled and on her side. She will not sleep on her back at all, even while being held for naps and we can't use the belt system with her on her side (or swaddled). She's now 4 months and I know our nights of using this are very numbered. Soon she'll be able to sit up and lean forward and then can fall out.

Every time we try to lay her on a non-moving surface, like her pack n' play, she will immediately wake up, even from a dead-to-the-world sleep. She needs to be moving. We even bought a self-bouncing baby hammock, but it doesn't seem to be working right and she wakes so much more. She doesn't sleep in the swing for naps. For naps she has to be laying on the boppy pillow on our lap, on her side and swaddled. She will sleep for two hours at a time like that, so I guess she can sleep mostly non-moving but it has to be on one of us, which we don't mind during the day.

So how do we transition her from her swing at night? I want to start before she can sit up. Any ideas or help?

Okay, I know you don't want to hear this, but what you're doing is dangerous. Understandable (I mean the motto of 0-3 months is "sleep by any means necessary, so I get it), but dangerous. My son slept swaddled at that age (in a crib) and one night with NO WARNING, I found him in the opposite end of the crib on his belly. He had learned to flip over in his swaddle in the middle of the night and had tried it out all night long. So I guess what I'm saying is that your son is entering into a mobile time and this unbuckled swing thing is going to have to stop.

Before Daniel slept full time in the crib, he slept part-time in his crib and part-time in his swing. The way I weaned him off of it is that I would use it to help him go to sleep (so probably the first 10 minutes) and then I'd turn it down to a very low swing (another 10 minutes) and then I'd turn it off. This worked for us, so you could give that a shot. You could also look into getting a pack and play that has a vibrating feature so you put her down and it's not totally moving. You could look at a cradle and rock it, or get one that rocks itself. You could also go the harder route, which is to retrain her to sleep in a non moving surface. Rock her to sleep in a rocking chair until she's very well asleep and then put her in her crib. If she cries, pat her tush and shush and then just repeat everytime she wakes up.

Prepare yourself that she's going to stop STTN for a little while as she gets used to the new sleeping arrangement. But if it makes you feel better, sleep often goes wild at 4 months anyway so it's possible she's have struggled anyway.

[sere234]

Okay, I know you don't want to hear this, but what you're doing is dangerous. 

Did you have to say this?????  I guess, deep down I do agree though. SOOO- starting today, I am on yet another sleep switch with my babe. I'm going to take it slow though, since my kiddo seems "safe-ish" swaddled and swinging. Get it done within a month?

1st- get him to sleep unswaddled or lightly swaddled and lay him on his tummy in his crib.

2nd- if he REALLY needs a nap because the crib naps didn't work, swaddle him tightly and let him swing. 

3rd- Turn off the swing after 15 minutes and let him sleep still. Swing if he repeatedly wakes.

4th- keep trying the crib, especially at night when he sleeps deeper. 

SeattleRain- I would say I despise you for your advice but you are probably right about weaning off the swing soon :(  

[MacKinnon]

I've got to agree that this is very unsafe. I'm sorry, because I understand the need to get the to SLEEP at all costs, but leaving the unbuckled at this age is a real risk. Falls are the leading cause of accidental injury to infants. And honestly, swaddling on their side in a moving swing also seems unsafe, because they can so easily roll into a position where they could suffocate.

My DD started to roll at 4 months, and by 5 months could use her little tummy muscles to sit up from a semi propped position, like on a Boppy. What about one of those clippy vibrating things, that makes the matress vibrate? You could still swaddle and be on the side, the vibration might mimic some of the movement.

Best luck, but yeah, this is not a safe sleep plan!

[MaryElizabeth]

My DD slept this way--swaddled on her side in a swing until she was about 6 months old!---eek! She wouldn't sleep any other way! She hated cosleeping and being still. Admittedly, she did fall out of her swing twice ( thank Heavens it was a travel swing about 4 inches off the floor!!!!) and after those incidents I started her sleeping in the boppy, swaddled, in the crib. I had to use a method out of a book called, The Sleep Easy Solution and it took awhile for her to get used to it, but after she figured out that she could sleep in her crib.... bam! she slept all night and even for naps!

I will say that I def. kept her in there too long and should have at least found a way to buckle her, but I did feel better after hearing many many stories of babies who fell off the bed while cosleeping or whose parents had accidently rolled over ontop of them! <--- my midwife's husband rolled on their baby so many times that they had to get one of those "dividers" for the bed haha.

[rachael07]

If you're going to do it... I'd move the swing into your room and pile up tons of blankets underneath, just in case there is a fall. Could you swaddle her torso, leaving some of the legs free so she could be strapped in? My biggest concern would be to make sure there's no possibility of her pushing her face into something soft... if there's any pillow in the swing, that would make me nervous

Would tucking a blanket tightly around her legs help simulate a swaddle?

My DS napped in his swing for the first 5 months, partly on his side, though we did strap him in. I was worried it would be permanent, but he grew out of it. He just started sleeping better when he was stationary and would cry when we put him in his swing, so it was an easy transition.

[Monarchgrrl]

Thanks for the advice and differing opinions, everyone! It really helps a lot. I do know it's not the best situation, which is why I asked for help. I just know that in a few months she will end up falling out.

So, I think we're going to have to try to start getting her used to sleeping in her pack n' play (we don't have a crib because we planned to co-sleep). I'm not worried about her suffocating at all in the swing. She's been able to move away from anything soft since she was born. And there is nothing soft or a suffocation hazard in her swing.

I was thinking about rigging a hand-made belt of fabric through the slots of the harness and then tying it around her waist/chest/arm area so that she can't fall out. Not too tight, of course, but enough that she couldn't sit up, which she can't do yet anyway, especially swaddled. And I'll also put pillows under the foot of the swing, just in case. Really, I'm not worried about her falling out yet. I asked the question so that she can be out of the swing completely in a couple of months.

Last night I turned the swing down to its second to slowest level and tonight I'll use the slowest one. Then I'll start stopping it when we go to bed and see how that goes for awhile. I think once she's used to not swinging at all that it'll be easier to get her to lay down on a flat surface. We have these bolster things that will keep her on her side on a flat surface, even while swaddled. I don't think she's ready to be moved to unswaddled just yet.

The really hard thing about this is that I'm the WOHM and DW is the SAHM so she gets up in the middle of the night if it's needed and I know she won't want to start any program that makes her get less sleep. So the hardest thing will be convincing DW of this. *sigh*

EEEEEEK! Wish us luck!

[LittleBirdy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl 

 I don't think she's ready to be moved to unswaddled just yet.

I think you're right about that.  You can keep swaddling a lot longer than you can keep a LO in a swing.  Mine outgrew his before he was even 6 months old but in theory I know I can swaddle him until he's five if I have to.  (I have heard of moms swaddling toddlers with sheets, so I know it can be done!)  So I would work on getting out of the swing and don't worry about the swaddling for now.
 

[SeattleRain]

For sure you should keep swaddling. The way I see it, the problem is that the baby is in the swing getting used to sleeping in motion, not that the baby is swaddled. Swaddling (even extended swaddling) is perfectly safe, as long as its on a flat surface or strapped. If you can convince baby to sleep on her back, there are swaddles that have holes between the legs so you can insert the swing harness, like the SwaddleMe. Then you could continue with her sleeping swaddled on her back for as long as is feasable. Though, I don't know if you're fostering good sleep habits this way. I mean, what will you do when she's out of the swing, you know?

[blue butterfly]

if you want to keep her in the swing you could get this product so sophia could be buckled in to the swing

[blue butterfly]

hmmm.... it erased my link


http://www.thewoombie.com/leggies_woombie.html

[Monarchgrrl]

UPDATE: Just wanted to update on the swing thing. I took DD on an unexpected trip this weekend, 1 hour flight. Obviously, we didn't bring the swing so I was just prepared to not sleep a wink in the hotel with her in the bed with me. I kept her swaddled and used a little bolster on either side of her to keep her laying on her side. She slept all night both nights!!! So we are officially off the swing now that we're home. She's sleeping in her pack n' play and slept 10 hours straight last night. :) I think she just had to get a bit older and then be fine with it. It was the same with cloth diapers for us. She hated them the first two months and then one day was fine with cloth. I'm so excited! Thanks, everyone!